???
No.
Are you thinking about firing up the Trans-Am and heading west for some beer?
is speeding even a crime? I’ve always thought of it as more of a traffic violation.
The only federal crimes are those defined by federal statutes, and as there is no national speed limit you would be in the free and clear.
On the road in question, there is a speed limit on one side of the state border, and another (though it’s probably the same) on the other side. If you go over whichever limit applies, it’s a traffic violation. You’ll be fined by a state.
Almost two years ago, I was speeding down a highway and didn’t notice the cop behind me because I was in a rush to get to work on time and wound up being chased for two miles before I saw the lights and pulled over.
When the cop came to my window, he rightfully read me the riot act and told me that there were already cops waiting further down the road with spike strips to force me to stop if I hadn’t myself. He also told me that I was only an inch or away from being charged with Felony: Evasion of Arrest but was going to be nice and just fine me instead.
What if that had been across state lines? I was living in Tennessee at the time so what would have happened if they chased me to Georgia, only fifteen minutes south of where I lived, and I wound up being pulled over by cops of both states and had been charged with the felony I so narrowly avoided?
Would that have been a federal charge?
No, you would be charged with felony evasion in Tennessee, and be extradited from Georgia to Tennesee (assuming Georgia didn’t want to prosecute you for any evading you did while in Georgia).
I think the misperception here is that crossing state lines in commission of a crime or series of crimes automatically makes it a federal crime. A federal crime is, by definition, a violation of federal law. So without a specific federal statute criminalizing the act, you would not be committing a federal crime but rather two separate state crimes.
There certainly are cases where crossing state lines in commission of a crime is subject to federal jurisdiction, but again, this is the case ONLY for specific crimes that are defined in federal law. For instance, kidnapping is a state crime in all fifty states, but is also a federal crime when the victim is taken across state lines only because Congress passed legislation to that affect.
Crossing state lines to avoid prosecution for a state felony is a federal offense. See Title 18, Section 1073 of the US Code, Chapter 49–Fugitives from Justice.
I doubt whether this would be used in a case of “hot pursuit” like the one you describe; I think it’s intended more for use against people who run from arrest warrants and subpoenas. Also, your original offense, speeding, was not a felony, but then by “evading arrest” you did arguably commit a felony and then carried it across state lines. I suppose if the feds really wanted to throw the book at you, they could charge you under this section, but I can’t imagine why they’d want to: the water you were already in, in Tennessee, would have been plenty hot enough!
Thanks this is the answer I was looking for.
Thread closed (as far as I’m concerned )